Streaming
The best of what’s new streaming on Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, Disney Plus, and more.
Welcome to Boston.com’s weekly streaming guide. Each week, we recommend five must-watch movies and TV shows available on streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock, Paramount+, and more.
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For even more great streaming options, check out previous editions of our must-watch list here.
New Movies Streaming
“Brokeback Mountain” (2005)
To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Ang Lee’s taboo cowboy romance, Focus Features has put the Oscar winner back in theaters for a limited time. But if you prefer to watch at home, Prime Video has the goods.
“Brokeback” begins in 1963, when rodeo cowboy Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) and journeyman Ennis (Heath Ledger) begin working as sheep herders for a wealthy rancher in Wyoming. What begins with a drunken night in a tent turns into a decades-long — but infrequent — affair, with the prevailing attitudes about homosexuality driving the pair apart. Gyllenhaal and Ledger are excellent, but don’t sleep on Michelle Williams, who also earned an Oscar nomination playing Ennis’ conflicted wife Alma.
How to watch: “Brokeback Mountain” is streaming on Prime Video.
“Jaws” (1975)
“Jaws” turns 50 years old today, making it the perfect time to revisit the movie that kickstarted Steven Spielberg’s career, turned Martha’s Vineyard into a giant film set, and made everyone a little more leery of going in the ocean.
Generally regarded as the first summer blockbuster, it’s impressive that half a century later, “Jaws” still inspires such terror. From the opening scene of a skinny dipper being devoured by the unseen monster, the tension builds on the island of Amity. By the time the unforgettable trio of aquaphobic police chief Martin Brody, precocious marine biologist Matt Hooper, and lunatic shark hunter Quint (Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, and Robert Shaw, respectively) take to the high seas to combat the beast, the suspense is almost unbearable.
How to watch: “Jaws” is streaming on Peacock.
“Plane” (2023)
Sometimes after a long work week, all you want to do is turn your brain off and let the endorphins flow. Everyone has their own favorite type of guilty pleasure, whether it’s a trashy reality show or a Hallmark movie of the week. For me, it’s movies like “Plane,” which stars Gerard Butler as a gruff, working-class airline pilot who is forced to kick some ass after his plane crashes in a remote, lawless section of the Philippines. When it comes to movies like this, I’m more of a Jason Statham guy than a Butler stan, but the Scottish actor gets the job done.
How to watch: “Plane” is streaming on Netflix.
New TV Shows Streaming
“The Buccanneers”
If you’re going to pick just one high society drama from late 1800s to watch this weekend, make it “The Gilded Age” (see below). But the third season of HBO’s drama doesn’t premiere until Sunday, so you have time to pick up the second season of Apple TV+’s “The Buccaneers” in the meantime.
Based on an unfinished Edith Wharton novel, “The Buccaneers” of the show’s title are five young American women whose new money parents have allowed them to decamp to London to rub elbows (and seek partners) among high society across the pond. If you haven’t seen Season 1, start there, so you can catch up on those who have married, those who have separated, those who have discovered the joys of illicit same-sex relationships, and those who are setting up side hustles so they can continue to afford their lavish lifestyle.
How to watch: “The Buccaneers” is streaming on Apple TV+, with new episodes airing Wednesdays.
“The Gilded Age”
If you’re a fan of “Downton Abbey,” you’ve hopefully already hopped on board to “The Gilded Age,” which comes from the same showrunner (Julian Fellowes) and tells a similar aristocratic tale set in the cushy confines of 1880s New York City high society.
Season 3 of the HBO series (which debuts Sunday) might be its best yet, with Fellowes pushing his socialites into uncomfortable dynamics. Bertha (Carrie Coon), who has worked so hard to cement her family’s wealth and status, is at odds with her husband over whether their daughter should be able to marry for love instead of money. A suddenly impoverished Agnes (Christine Baranski) must endure the whims of her sister (Cynthia Nixon) who has been swept up in the temperance movement. And we finally meet a Black family of means, led by a matriarch (Phylicia Rashad) who aggressively steers any conversation away from slavery or reconstruction.
How to watch: “The Gilded Age” is streaming on HBO Max; Season 3 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
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